


Heart Song

by swanqueenfic13



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-14
Updated: 2015-11-14
Packaged: 2018-05-01 12:46:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5206403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swanqueenfic13/pseuds/swanqueenfic13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Swan Queen one shot based off a tumblr prompt from myqueengina:</p><p>"Can you do a one shot where Emma knows that Snow is planning on cursing Cora’s heart so Emma gets Cora’s heart before Snow (without cursing it) and gives it to Cora so she can love Regina?”</p><p> </p><p>TW for mentions of murder (of Cora, remember season 2 canon?)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heart Song

“Are you crazy?” Emma shrieks in disbelief. Her mother- it was still weird to call the woman who had become her best friend, the woman with whom she’d discussed one night stands, and relationships unabashedly, her mother- had just told them her plan for Cora’s heart.

“It’s the only way, Emma! Cora is _much_ worse than Regina ever was,” she explains lowly.

“And you guys are just okay with- with killing someone? You guys are supposed to be the heros! And heros don’t kill!” How could they be so blase about killing someone’s mother? A person at all, for that matter?

“Of course we don’t want to do this lightly! Killing is never a first option, Emma. This is the only way to ensure she never hurts our family, or our town,” David explains (again, much easier to call him David than to think of him as her father), as if shocked she would insinuate such a thing.

“Look, all I’m asking is that you give me a little time to try and figure something else out! I get that she was evil, but we can’t just kill her! She’s Regina’s mother, Henry’s grandmother! You want to tell the kid that his grandmother killed his other grandmother?” Emma already has a plan, but they don’t need to know that.

“Twelve hours,” David agrees, holding on to Mary Margaret’s hand when she looks ready to protest.

“That’s all I ask,” she agrees. “I’ll be back in a while. I need some time to think,” she says, running out of the apartment, grabbing her keys as she goes.

 

“This place is creepy,” she mutters to herself, walking down the marble staircase. She had broken every speed limit on her way to the cemetery (who was going to arrest her? she’s the sheriff), and was now making her way into Regina’s dungeon lair.

“Whoa,” she mutters, taking stock of the stone shelves. It’s like every witch’s lair, dungeon, or evil laboratory she’d seen in every movie or TV show. In the stone shelves she saw old, leather-bound books, colorful potion-bottles, and shrivelled plants, likely potion ingredients. A little deeper into the dungeon/ lair, and she saw the wall of hearts.

It was both magnificent and terrifying: row after row of gold boxes, each pulsating red at a different tempo. She wondered idly what would happen if someone died of natural causes while their heart was here: would the heart just stop beating? Would it shrivel up? _Focus_ , _Swan_ , she thinks to herself. _You’re here for Cora’s heart, not to stand around_. As if sensing this, the wall pushes one of the boxes out. It’s at Emma’s eye level, and she pulls it out.

“Good, good, okay, now get out of here,” she says quietly, trying not to think about the fact that she is holding a literal _heart_ in her hands (okay, in a box in her hands, but it’s the same thing).

 

She doesn’t open the box until she is standing in the Sheriff’s office, a public enough space that she isn’t worried about her safety. The heart looks the same as her ninth grade biology book showed her, except for the fact that it was glowing a bright, cherry red. It throbbed in her hand, and she cringed.

“Uh, Cora? Can you and Regina come to the sheriff’s station, please?” she says to the heart, a little unsure if this is the proper way to go about this. She knows she’s done it right when the two Mills women appear in a cloud of purple smoke, both looking equally annoyed.

“Sheriff Swan, release my mother’s heart,” Regina snarls, conjuring a fireball. Emma holds one hand out, trying to calm Regina.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, that’s what I’m trying to do here,” she says quickly. Intrigued, Regina lowers the fireball. “From what I understand, most of our problems with you are happening because you don’t have your heart, Cora. Now, I want to give you a chance to be better for your family. You have a daughter, and a grandson, and I think you should get a chance to be someone better. So I thought maybe, if you had your heart, you could be better,” she says hopefully, trying not to implicate her parents. As awkward as the relationship shift is, she doesn’t want them dead.

“Better? I’m already as strong as I can be, dear. Why would I want to make myself weak?” Emma tries not to groan at Cora’s argument.

“Didn’t we establish in the Enchanted Forest that love is strength?” she says, trying to force her calm.

“Mother, she has a point,” Regina whispers, trying (and failing) to keep the hopeful tone out of her voice.

“Oh Regina, I thought you understood why I did it!” she exclaims, looking genuinely surprised.

“Well, I do mother, or, I did. But I have a son now, and I couldn’t imagine raising him without my heart,” she says stiffly. Emma just bites her lip, letting Regina control the conversation.

“I- I’ve always known love is weakness,” Cora says, a little unsure now.

“Would you rather have power, or your family?” Regina laughs wildly, clearly losing her patience. “Mother, it’s different here. You don’t need to fight to be happy.”

“I- I think you would be enough, dear. If you’d have me, of course,” Cora says softly. Emma softens, feeling both awkward and grateful to be witnessing this exchange.

“Mother, of course I would,” Regina whispers, going to hug her. Suddenly, she remembers Emma is there. She narrows her eyes at her. “How do we know this isn’t a trick?”

“Trust,” is the only answer Emma can give. Regina looks into her eyes for a long time, as if searching for some sign of a lie, or deceit. Finding none, she takes the heart from Emma ( _thank god_ , Emma thinks) and shoves it into her mother’s chest.

Cora gasps, and doubles over for a moment, but when she straightens, she is smiling. She is grinning so hard she looks ready to burst, and her eyes are filled with tears. “Oh Regina,” she sighs. “You _will_ be enough. No more power struggles. I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” she says, and all three of them are crying now as Regina and Cora embrace.

Of course, David has to ruin the moment.

“Hey Emma- oh! Hey!” he says defensively, slamming the door open as he enters. Emma facepalms as the Mills women disappear in another cloud of smoke. “What just happened?” he asks. Emma shakes her head and rolls her eyes before explaining.

 

Later that night, when Emma is sitting at Granny’s having a drink (by herself) to celebrate her victory, Regina sidles up.

“Mind if I sit?” she asks, pointing to the empty barstool next to her. Emma shrugs, so Regina slides gracefully onto the seat (Emma didn’t think there was a graceful way to sit on a barstool, but, per usual, Regina proved her wrong). “I want to thank you.” Emma almost spits out her beer (which would have been a shame: Granny’s brew was awesome).

“Uh, it was nothing,” Emma chokes out after a moment. Regina rolls her eyes.

“You gave my mother her heart back. It was everything. We went home, and had a long, long, long talk, and I think things will be… better, now,” she says, smiling to herself. Ruby sidles up to Emma.

“Emma, you need help?” Ruby asks lowly, eyeing Regina from behind the counter.

“Nah, Rubes. We’ve sorted everything out,” Emma explains. Can you get Regina a… uh, shots, Regina?” Emma asks. Regina laughs lightly.

“I suppose,” she agrees, smiling. Ruby, still a little uncomfortable, pours two shots for the women. Emma raises her glass and Regina, smiling ever so slightly, clinks hers to it.

“So, you guys talked?” Emma asks after slamming her glass back down on the counter. Regina nods.

“It won’t be perfect, not right away, but it’ll get better. Can I ask? Why did you do that? Why give my mother back her heart, after everything she’s done?” Regina asks. Emma can’t really explain it.

“She’s still your mother. Even after all those things, she’s still your mother. Just like you’re Henry’s mother. Even though your past was… questionable,” Emma finally decides, “you’re still his mom. It’s why I couldn’t let the mob kill you, remember?” Regina nods, but stares at her hands, as if not fully understanding.

“Thank you,” she says again, quieter now.

“You’re welcome,” Emma says, just as softly. “But really, I’d do it again in a, well, in a heartbeat,” she says, chuckling at her own stupid joke. Regina just rolls her eyes.

“Two more, Rubes,” Emma finally says. She looks over, and smiles at Regina. Taking the glass and raising it to Emma, Regina smiles back.

**Author's Note:**

> Review? I live for reviews!!! If you have any prompts, send 'em in!


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